


A Sucessful Lesson

by wickedradical



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Dave POV, M/M, dad egbert is mentioned a few times, john is definitely (not) a homosexual, now with added art!, piano lessons, theyre dweebs okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-21
Updated: 2017-03-21
Packaged: 2018-10-08 17:31:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10392129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wickedradical/pseuds/wickedradical
Summary: John, after hearing that Dave doesn't know any real instruments, insists on teaching him how to play the piano. Dave gets distracted by John, and vice versa.





	

“Dave, do you know how to play any instruments?”

_What_. You whipped your head around to stare your friend right in the eyes, or as far as you could behind his five inch thick glasses. Okay, maybe that was was an exaggerration. _Maybe._ John only giggled in response, hiding a snort behind his hand. His hand was no more opaque than your shades, you guessed. Probably because he had known you for so long that he could read the shock in your body language without needing your eyes.

“Well, do you?” He repeated the question, genuine curiosity sparking his tone. “It’s not _that_ weird a question- After all, I play the piano, Rose plays the violin, Jade plays the guitar-” “I know,” you interrupted, wondering what it had to do with anything. “So I was wondering if you played anything! Geez, no need to get all touchy.” The ravenette held his hands up in defense, but his perpetual smile never faded.

“No.” You shrugged. “Unless you could call my sick beats instrumental.” You through for a moment, then lifted your hands to your mouth and started beatboxing. “Okay,” John laughed, swatting at your hands. “I’m _pretty_ sure that doesn’t count.” “Aw, what?” You feigned being offended, hand put to your chest dramatically.

“Oh, stop!” John chuckled, grin showing off his almost beaver-esque front teeth. “I only asked because, well..” He grew quiet, and if you didn’t know any better, you’d think he was embarrassed. “Well?” You raised a brow, gesturing at him with a hand to get on with it. “Well.. I was wondering if you wanted to learn?”

He wrung his hands, peering at you over the top of his glasses hopefully. “Mmm..” You hummed, leaning back in your chair. “Where’s this coming from?” “What do you mean?” His brows quirked in confusion. “Why do you want to teach me?” You slid your shades down your nose a tad, revealing your eyes. He looked into them, mesmerized.

After a moment of silence, he snapped out of his trance, and began speaking, almost indignantly so. “Well..! I think it’d be a good skill to have in your repertoire, and it’d widen your musical horizons, and.. And..” The brunette stammered, hands flailing as he spoke. “And girls like guys who can play the piano? I think..” You stifled a snort of laughter, and he glared at you.

“Okay, okay, jeez..” You raised your hands in surrender. “If you want to teach me so bad, I’ll let you work your magic.” You couldn’t help but smile as the tension immediately left his shoulders, blatantly visible. “Oh, good!” John clapped his sunbrowned hands excitedly. “Alright..” His enthusiasm was contagious, and you caught yourself smirking right back at him. “So, when do we start?”

“How about now?” He gave you an expectant look, blue eyes pleading you to say yes. With a roll of your eyes, you complied. “That’s a little sudden, but sure.” You glanced around, shrugging. “Not like we have anything better to do, I guess.” “Geez, you don’t have to act all aloof!” He pushed at your shoulders. “We’re friends, aren’t we?” You remembered how strong he was, and hardly had the time to contemplate it as your chair tipped and you went sprawling. Now that just wasn’t far, this kid didn’t have a jerk brother who constantly fought with him, why did _he_ get the muscles?

He brought you to your senses with a nudge from his foot. “Dude, quit being so lazy, get up.” You groaned, but followed after him as he walked downstairs to the piano. The all too familiar smell of cake wafted out from the kitchen, and you found yourself wondering whether his old man _ever_ stopped baking.

The thought left all too quickly as it came however, when you finally reached the piano. You stopped in front of it, cracking your knuckles. “Alright, let’s do this.” John grimaced at the knuckle-cracking. “Dude, that’s gross and totally unnecessary. Come here.” He leaned over you, grabbing your hands and gently placing them on the keys.

You nearly jumped as you felt his chest pressed up against your back. _Wow_ , that was getting pretty close.  You glanced over at him as he leaned his head over your shoulder, warm breathing ghosting against your cheek. “Dude, I thought you weren’t gay.” He jerks back at that, giving you a quizzical look. “What?! No! Stop-” John moved to push himself away from the piano, and in turn, you, but you pulled him back.

“Jesus, dude, it was just a joke.” You roll your eyes. “Come back, teach me your rad skills.” You grin. “Come on, please, skillz with a z?” He rolls his eyes, cheeks almost comically red. “Alright, but remember, I’m _not_ a homosexual.” “Not a gay, got it.” You wait for him to come back behind you, and lean against him when he does. “Totally not.”

You were half tempted to give him a kiss on his cheek, but you wouldn’t want to make him too uncomfortable. No sense in pushing a guy too far into a space he’s uncomfortable with, especially with his being your best friend. And aside from what a sensitive subject it was, you don’t know _what_ you’d do if his dad actually walked in on it.

He huffs but doesn’t move away from the near full body contact, subconsciously chewing on his lowering lips before placing his hands back over yours. “I’m going to ignore that you said that, okay?” “Sure.” “Alright! Moving on. This is Middle C,” the brunette moves your darker hands to a different key. “This one’s really important, so you gotta remember it, okay?”

He seemed to have moved on from your teasing, blue eyes bright with excitement. You find yourself wondering again why he’d been so eager, but if he was going to be practically shoving his hips against yours the whole time, you weren’t really going to complain. Even if he totally wasn’t gay. No way, no how. Totally.

You listened as he explained the rest of the keys, which was really basic stuff. Of course, you’d never used a piano in real life before, so it made sense to start from the top. There were different octaves and different letters for the various keys, and occasionally he would press down on your fingers to play the sound of a key or two.

It was really nice, you guessed. Of course, you didn’t really care much about the piano, but it was nice to spend time with him all the same. Sometimes he wold gently remove your hands from the piano altogether, fingers flying deftly across the board to play short snippets of songs. The music was pretty, but you couldn’t help having your thoughts wander off.

He was so absorbed in the lesson, however, that he didn’t notice you staring into his eyes rather than at the keys like you were supposed to. Of course, your nigh perpetually worn sunglasses probably had a hand in that respect. He continued speaking on, voice fast paced, but soft, careful. John could make a rather decent teacher someday, if he wanted. Of course, you found jealousy bubbling up within you at the thought of him taking the same position with some other kid under his musical tutelage. But you forcefully pushed that thought away, going back to the lesson.

He was teaching you a few notes in a row, a rather simple song that kids younger than yourself could easily remember and repeat. He hummed along as you fingered the keys, deftly plinking out the chords. When you’d gotten it down perfectly, John had leaned back to clap, and you almost laughed at how happily invested he was in your progress.

“Good job Dave, you’re doing so well!” He gave you what you supposed was supposed to be a light punch in the shoulder, but it hurt all the same. Holding back a wince, you raised a challenging brow at him. “Oh? Do I get a prize or something?” “..Like what?” The boy regarded you suspiciously, arms crossed over his prized Ghostbusters shirt.

“I dunno..” You trailed off whimsically, looking this way and that before meeting his eyes with your own. “Why don’t you pick something appropriate for the occasion?” John let out a hopelessly melodramatic sigh, shoulders slumping in acquiescence. “Fine.. But you have to close your eyes, okay?”

You nodded, already planning to blatantly disobey his request and keep them open and watching. John put a quick end to that, however, grabbing your shades and folding them before hooking them in the neck of his shirt. “I’m serious, okay?” You couldn’t help but notice the whiny undertone in his voice, and despite the caramel brown of his skin, his cheeks were undoubtedly pink.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” You closed your eyes before rolling them, which kinda negated the point, but whatever. “Are you gonna give me a gold star or something?” “Shh!” He sounded annoyed and impatient. “Chill out, okay? You’re supposed to be a cool dude, aren’t you?”

You looked as indignant as you could without opening your eyes to glare at him. “Shut up, I’m the _king_ of cool.” “Mhmm, _sure_.” He didn’t sound too convinced, and you heard the shuffling of his feet and he stepped closer. You couldn’t help but wonder if you were going to be smacked for your noncompliance, because let’s face it, you _totally_ deserved it. Besides, it would be a pretty decent prank, getting you all excited for nothing.

But when the inevitable contact of skin against skin came, you were surprised to find that it wasn’t his rough hands against your cheek, but his _lips_ instead. You couldn’t help your eyes shooting open, red gaze locked on him in shock. His face had turned a whole shade darker, if possible, and he was quickly backing away in shame.

Before he could speak, undoubtedly to come up with some lame excuse to defend himself, you spoke. “You said you weren’t gay, dude!” You breathed, still amazed but _definitely_ not unhappy. “Shh, Dave!” He put a hand against your mouth to shush you, and didn't even remove it when you licked it, like he usually did. This was serious. “I don’t want my dad to hear, okay? He’ll think I’m weird!”

“What, does he think we’re gonna start stripping down and-” “ _Stop!_ ” He was quite a sight to see, trying to look serious and intimidating but utterly failing. “Okay, okay, geez..” You stared at him until he moved his hand, still holding it out in case you said something else stupid.

“Dude, you’re _so_ totally gay, don’t even deny it!” You hissed to him in a whisper, unable to keep the giddiness out of your tone. “Shhh!” John looked away in shame, putting a hand on your shoulder to lightly push you away. He looked genuinely uncomfortable for a moment, so you let him be. “Hey..” You started quietly, careful. “Are you okay? I didn’t mean to-”

“Look.. It’s fine, okay?” He glanced back to meet your gaze. “Just.. I don’t know if I’m ready for this.. At least not being super open about it.. Okay?” You felt a flash of pity for him, taking his hand in your own. “That’s perfectly fine, I don’t blame you. Just.. Tell me if I ever get out of line, yeah?” You pressed your lips to his knuckles in a soft kiss.

He let you hold his hand for longer than you expected, but eventually pulled it away. “Mhmm. Just don’t be dumb and loud, because my dad will walk in and..” The brunette glanced at the doorway to the kitchen warily. “I’m not ready for that discussion yet.”

You nodded in understanding, standing on tiptoe to pull his head down towards yours. “Yeah.” You couldn’t help looking in the same direction before giving him a soft kiss. “I’d say this was a pretty successful piano lesson though, huh?” He nodded vigorously, glad to have another subject in the conversation. And despite his vocal rebuttal(as temporary as it was), you noticed that he was smiling as well.

You realized that even as he’d voiced his own concerns, you were so happy you don’t think you would’ve cared, or even _noticed_ , if his dad had come to peek in on your progress.

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first time writing john alright  
> i love johndave but i havent seen much of it recently  
> found this half finished drabble in my notes and decided to finish it  
> i cant believe this is my longest homestuck fic as as now  
> also its nearly midnight blugh


End file.
